NCR may be placed under Alert Level 1 if COVID cases further decline–Duque

(FILE) Health Secretary Francisco Duque III gives an update to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Arcadia Active Lifestyle Center in Matina, Davao City on August 30, 2021. JOEY DALUMPINES/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila may be placed under Alert Level 1—the most lenient quarantine classification—if the nationwide daily COVID-19 cases go down to just 500 to less than 1,000, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Tuesday.

Duque said the alert level status during the holiday season will depend on the number of cases and other figures related to the COVID-19 response.

“Depende ‘yan. Titingnan natin ang numero, ang datos. Kung ang datos ay patuloy namang bumababa, halimbawa kahapon is nasa a little over 2,000 lang tayo, so posible na kapag below 1,000 tayo or 500 per day ay baka pwede nating ibaba pa hanggang Alert Level 1,” he said at the Laging Handa public briefing when asked about the possible downgrading of alert level in Metro Manila for the holiday season.

(It depends. We will look at the numbers and data. If the numbers are continuously declining—for example, yesterday, we had a little over 2,000 new cases—it is possible that we can lower the alert level to 1 if we will have only below 1,000 or 500 cases per day.)

“Sino ba naman ang may ayaw na mas mababa ang ating alert level? Mas malaking bahagi ng ekonomiya naman ang ating mabubuksan at mas marami tayong mababawing trabaho na nawala,” he added.

(Who does not want a lower alert level? A larger part of the economy will be opened and we will recover lost jobs.)

According to government guidelines, an area may be placed under Alert Level 1 if COVID-19 transmission is low and decreasing, and the total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rates are also low.

Under this alert level, all people may engage in all activities and establishments may operate at full capacity, provided that they follow minimum public health standards. The exceptions are those in areas under a granular lockdown.

Metro Manila now has 6,256 active cases of COVID, including 388 cases added on Monday. Meanwhile, the entire country has 32,077 active cases of the disease, including 2,087 additional cases.

Metro Manila is currently under Alert Level 2 status until November 21.

JPV